Monday, July 25, 2011

When life gives you lemons... quit because lemons are sour.

I had a huge ride planned today from home up Rollins Pass Road and back... ~70 miles on a mountain bike with significant climbing. I made it 13 miles to Rollinsville and double flatted carrying one spare (my training wheels aren't tubeless... yet). So I called my wife from the liquor store and she came and got me. As soon as I got home I switched out wheels and before I could even clip in it started to dump rain. Hard. My afternoon is already filled with responsibilities and since my routes around here are nearly all dirt roads or trail I calmly threw my bike in the corner and changed clothes... done. Who knows, maybe my guardian angel knew I would crash off a cliff on The Divide and die. I have 6 days open for long rides between now and Leadville and I feel I need every one of them to count so today was discouraging at the least.
I also went down hard again yesterday on Walker Ranch. The fall 'freshened up' almost every sore spot I already had and I (of course) also landed on the elbow that I tore the skin away from the bone. Physically I'm feeling pretty rough... but at least my mental state sucks!

13 comments:

It's not a ride until there's blood! When it rains it pours, literally. Like you said, it was probably your guardian angel doing some work to keep you safe. No matter what though, I'm sure you're fit enough to make the best of what time you have left. I'll bet you're body appreciated the extra rest it got today!

Thanks Dave. It seems when I ride it turns in to a Daniel Day Lewis movie though... There WILL be blood. I'm going to put Stans jizz in to ALL of my bike tubes tonight... if he's OK with that. I feel my fitness is OK up to ~5:00 hours, not so confident beyond that which is where I need to go.

I really think ya need to take some time off. You're beat up pretty badly from the 50 at Leadville and I think it's a real concern. I think right now you're taking too many risks and ya have a family to be there for an all. Some times we're all so close to a situation that we lack perspective and can't see what's really happening. From my view I see a guy who is in great shape and whose commitment is off the charts but who is taking risks he shouldn't. You likely have broken ribs and a broken rib can puncture a lung. Take time off and get better. We would all hate to see something bad happen.

Lucho: Glad you're OK! I kind of aggree with the anonymous poster but not quite. I think your fitness is definitely there and I'm wondering what would happen if you kind of coast into the 100-mile mountain bike race, taking the time between now and then to heal. But, that's easy for me to say. I've been known to refuse time off regardless of how I felt. I'm of the mindset that it's good to push through the bad patches so long as doing so doesn't worsen the problem.

Ya Wyatt... I agree also with the anonymous poster. They're pretty much correct. But that's not what makes most of us tick. I agree that training with out exacerbating the injuries is acceptable and also key. To do that I simply have to keep the rubber on the trail! I'm definitely not going to push any trail speed from now to Pb and stick more to roads. Then on race day take the descents SUPER chill and hammer the climbs which is my strength. Thanks again for the input!